New-York tribune., 1887-05-16
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

scoTIAND AS IT WAS AND AS 1T is. BY the DUKE
or ARGYLL vols svo PIP xl, ZSS' oZe' VI -
The broad title which the Duke OF Argyll has
chosen for his book covers no moro than an ih-
quiry into the origin and nature OF land tenuies
an important subject. but hardly one whicn III
cludes the whole development of the kihgoo'n - -
these days however, when ignorance vaunts itseii
90 confidently in theories ABOUT 'no '
10 the soil, historical surveys Oh 'h0
facts of the question. In any coi"oi
of the earth are valuable. The Duke maAos
clear that the old Celtic custom OF occupying 'no
land IN common to which our modern agitators
are so fond Of referring, existed-where II exs1eo
at all--only as a condition of primitive baroarsm
prolific of every imaginable evil to the masses OF
the population and that the recognition Oh inui-
yidual ownership. the right of exclusive POSSES
SION was everywhere one of the hrst ana lio'o
necessary steps toward order and cNi'I%
tlop The right of a tribe or co'nniun
itv to the use of land implied the right 10 smut ou'
Others and the necessity of armed deience' Inc
chieftain who guaranteed to the cultivators the
peaceabe possession of their fields exacted recoi-
nonse for his protection In service in kind and
the further back we go toward the comInuhlsuc
per,od the more severe and indefinite are these
exaoions found to be. In all cases the advance OIL
civilization depends upon more exact definition
of the relations between the cutlvator ana
his lord The chief agent in the change
WAS the Church, which introduced the principles OF
the Roman law, together with doctrines of private
property which had been taught under divine sane
tion ever since the days Of Abraham. Charters,
covenants, grants, leases, replaced vague uhuer-
standings with respect to service and protectioh'
And t Is important to note that the change was ln-
yariably adopted in the interest OF the ten
ant 1t was not an extension OF the claims
of the landlord, but strict limitation
OF his privileges. The tenant, being
secnred in the possession of his fields, paid no
longer an indefinite, multiform and generally op-
presyiye service but fixed rent. Even when the
ouestiou whether the lord could make covenants
binding mon his successors-ln other words,
whether the dead hand should prevail over the lv-
inu-first came up for formal settlement in the
Scottish Parliament the decision. although 1t rec
ogn,xsd the psrpetuatlon of ownership was not
made in the interest of the Landlords,
but "for the safety and favor OF the poor
people that labor the ground" in order that their
rights under the lease might not be affected by
change of owners.
Thus the development of "landlordism became
in very practical sense identical with the develop
ment of popular rights and national prosperity;
and in his second volume the Dlke EXHIBITS IN
some highly interesting pages, the Importance of
the work of the great Scottish proprietors
in promoting agriculture and improving the con-
ditlon of the peasantry. He gives some striking
instances Of the msfortunes which have followed
occasional relapses into the older customs; and he
describes effectively the perpexing stuationin the
Hebrides, where the crofters have given him so
much troube-their miseries arising, as he believes,
from ignorant and obstinate adherence to a way OF
life entirely unsulted to their present numbers.
The whole of his second volume is extremely read
able; and although the work as whole must be
accepted as a great landlords apology for his own
class il abounds with substantial information
which some of our noisy economists might be the
better for absorbing.